DRESDNER KLEINWORT FRANKFURT MARATHON – Defending champion Melanie Kraus and Sabrina Mockenhaupt in German battle

Defending champion Melanie Kraus will return to the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon on 26th October. The 33 year-old German had caused a major upset in last year’s race, when she beat Russia’s favourite Svetlana Zakharova into second place, winning with 2:28:56.

The Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon could see a thrilling German duel, because Sabrina Mockenhaupt has also entered the event. Additionally last year’s third place finisher Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu (Norway), who had run 2:29:12, will come back to Germany’s oldest city marathon. Making it almost a German Championship race Claudia Dreher will as well compete in Germany’s financial capital. The Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.

 Melanie Kraus had recently placed 38th in the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. But running on the track inside the stadium at the end of the race her speed suggested that she had some reserves left. Kraus then recovered well from the race and decided to go for the tough task of a title defence in Frankfurt. Last year though was even harder for her. Because just two months after placing 20th in the Osaka World Championships’ Marathon, which took place in much warmer and more humid conditions than the one in Beijing, she came to Frankfurt and clocked 2:28:56. This time she has two more weeks to prepare for the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon.

It is the goal of Melanie Kraus to again run well under 2:30 on 26th October, with which she would break the national qualifying time for the World Championships in Berlin next summer. Her personal best stands at 2:27:58, which might be in reach. Especially if the expected duel with Sabrina Mockenhaupt materializes. The 27 year-old, who had run her best major championship race at the Olympics where she placed 13th with a personal best of 31:14.21 minutes in the 10,000 m final, had run her marathon debut in Cologne a year ago, when she won with 2:29:33.

It is her aim to improve this mark on the fast Frankfurt course. Last Saturday Sabrina Mockenhaupt clocked a very promising time at the German 10 k championships. Finishing second behind Irina Mikitenko she ran 31:50 minutes in cool and wet conditions in Karlsruhe. “I expect Sabrina to do much better in Frankfurt than a year ago in Cologne,” said Christoph Kopp, who is the elite athletes’ coordinator of the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon.

Entry figures for the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon are still up by around 10 percent compared to a year ago. In 2007 a record number of 11,507 marathon runners had entered the race. Adding all other running events the total field had 18,302 athletes. So the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt Marathon could well reach the 20,000 barrier for the first time in its history. Entries for the race are still possible.

For more information and online registration visit:

www.frankfurt-marathon.com